what is normal resistance for wiring

[T2urtle]

im ohm-ing out some wires on my car and i wanted to know the norm resistance and if it should change when bending the wires?

ECU wires from certain sensors, all of them showing 2.0 ohms, these are average ECU wires so like 16 gauge wires. i thought it was suppose to be more like 0.1 ohms. Also when i was bent the harness to see the pin out the wires peaked to 20 ohms. I dont think this is normal at all. Yea bending the wires should cuase small increase in resistance but not buy this much.

do you guys think i have a exposed wire somewhere along the harness...

 

[LTC8K6]

First make sure this is not the meter leads. Short them out and see what the reading is, wiggle them, etc.

 

[Eli]

It's the length of wires that matter. You could bend them into any shape you want, the resistance will(should) not change.

I agree, make sure your DMM and it's leads are up to snuff. That isn't making much sense.

 

[brblx]

resistance of wiring should ideally be zero. the DMM puts out so little current that even a wire with every strand but one broken should read close to zero. maybe one or two tenths of an ohm, tops.

as stated, bending should not matter. if you moving the probes around when you're doing this, that may explain it. also, yes, check the meter leads. again, they should be maybe a tenth of an ohm or so, tops.

edit: oh, and an exposed wire would have to be shorting against something else. you would check that by looking for continuity between the wires in the harness (with both ends unplugged) or continuity to ground (if it's not a ground wire).

what exactly is the actual problem you're having?

 

[boomerang]

Are you measuring resistance with the sensor still plugged in?

 

[c3p0]

Are you measuring resistance with the sensor still plugged in?

My question exactly. Some sensors are resistors. So if you measure continuity on a wire with the sensor plugged in, you may be reading the sensor itself.

Also, what is the make, model and year of your vehicle?

c3p0

 

[exdeath]

Get some steel wool and scuff off the ends of your probes so they are shiny.

 

[T2urtle]

Are you measuring resistance with the sensor still plugged in?

nope. sensor disconnected, probed the engine harness and the other end at the ECU.

total length should be 8ft roughly MAX.

i'm doing work on a 98 maxima. measuring 3 injectors and 3 ignition coils.